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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Business Notes for Jan. 8, 2023
The Gazette’s Business Notes is a compendium of the week’s promotions, new hires, certifications, added business lines and business events, among other items, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and the rest of the Corridor.
Information and photos can be submitted to Business Notes by email to businessnotes@thegazette.com, or on our site at thegazette.com/businessnotes.
New hires
Danielle Moore, ARNP, has joined the MercyCare Community Physicians team as a nurse practitioner at the MercyCare Medical District in Cedar Rapids.
Books
Christoph Trappe, a Marion-based marketer and former Gazette reporter, has published “Is Marketing a Good Career?,” which is available on Amazon. He previously published “Going Live” about livestreaming podcasts.
Promotions
Jason Smith, CEO of the Cedar-Rapids risk management and insurance brokerage firm TrueNorth Companies, has announced leadership appointments aimed at strengthening the company’s future and its goal of “developing exceptional talent and growing the organization from within.”
The appointments include:
- Matt Rathje, TrueNorth’s senior vice president of client operations, will become chief operations officer.
- Chad Thurm, senior vice president of transportation, will become TrueNorth’s chief financial officer.
- Bill Teubel, TrueNorth’s former CFO, will remain on the board as senior strategy officer.
- Max Smith, executive vice president of risk management, becomes TrueNorth’s chief commercial officer.
- Robynn Westphal, assistant general counsel, has been promoted to general counsel.
- Stu Haker, senior vice president of risk management, is assuming Smith’s form role as executive vice president of risk management.
- Bill Zenk, transportation and practice leader, becomes executive vice president of risk and workforce solutions.
- Chris Gulker, transportation principal and pratice leader, becomes senior vice president of transportation.
- Andrew Miller, director of client services, becomes vice president of operations of risk and workforce solutions.
- Garrett Shekleton, manager of strategic initiatives, becomes vice president of operations of risk management.
Insights and sessions
Registration is now open for the Business of Art conference to be held March 4-5 at Reiman Gardens in Ames. The session is designed to strengthen business skills of creatives and artists, with topics on developing a brand, photographing artwork and engaging your audience. Details and registration information are at https://octagonarts.org/2023-business-of-art-conference or by calling (515) 259-0494.
The Gazette Business Breakfast panel’s third-quarter discussion, “A Small Business’ Tool Kit for 2023: Lessons we’ve learned and challenges — and opportunities — for which we can be prepared,” now is online at https://bit.ly/3eD04Wv. Panelists are Paul Andreasen, founder and owner, Saucy Focaccia; Sydney Rieckhoff, CEO, Almost Famous Popcorn; and Kymberly Stevenson, Targeted Small Business Development Program manager, Iowa Economic Development Authority. The discussion series was sponsored by BerganKDV.
The final 2022 installment of the “Gazette Spotlight on …” series of recorded interviews also is available to view at business.thegazette.com. This group recognizes businesses and organizations for their focus on growth. Interviewed are Luke Bishop of BAE Systems; Matt Swift of Big Grove; Sarah Nelson of Comm-Unity Crisis Service; and Drew Martel of Foundation 2. Also, the Better Business Bureau Cedar Rapids office joined The Gazette in speaking with Marc Meyer of Inteconnex. The series was sponsored by TrueNorth Cos.
Danielle Moore
Christoph Trappe
Matthew Rathje
Chad Thurm
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